A Brit in Bavaria – A Bavarian in UK
Good old times vs. modern times…
Part 3 – LINCOLNSHIRE
by Ralph Kratzer
We, my girlfriend Sarah and I, had been invited by her daughter Liv and her son-in-law Ben to spend the holidays together with them in their house in Sleaford. Also on board were Sarah’s grandchildren Millie and Pippa, and the two dogs Mambo and Seth. Full house, so to speak! But it would become even better …
Unlike the Germans, the British do not celebrate on Christmas Eve, as we know, but on Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is used to wrap up the last gifts unhurriedly and put them under the Christmas tree. Unhurriedly? In Liv’s and Ben’s case rather not… both go to work, two small children, two dogs, shopping and preparations for the planned Christmas dinner and so on, there is only little time left for a rest, to be true. But with Sarah’s and my help (I had the responsible task to operate the scissors by cutting the ribbons!) the countless gifts were wrapped and lovingly decorated.
But, despite all the hustle and bustle, time enough remained for my girlfriend to show me the environment and especially the capital of the county, Lincoln. And of course to visit some typical English pubs, which I had been looking forward to. I have had, as already mentioned in Part 1 of my travel report, some business trips to England in the past, but never the opportunity to learn about the country and its people.
The ancient university city of Lincoln with its 120,000 inhabitants, at the same time the County Town of Lincolnshire and the seat of the County Council, has really impressed me. It looks back, like my hometown of Augsburg (Bavaria), on more than 2000 years of history and was, again a parallel, a Roman garrison.
And to all who had told me before “Lincolnshire is a very flat area!”: Climb up the “Steep Hill” to the cathedral in Lincoln! Than you will know how flat the county is!
Of course, I can not fail to mention that we also visited the Harley-Davidson Shop of Lincoln, for me an absolute must!
New Year’s Eve and New Year we then spent with dear friends of Sarah, to make us on our way to London afterwards, where we should spend the last days of our holiday.
But more about this in the next and last part of my travel report …
Learn more about Lincolnshire by clicking here!